Novarad: Giving Enterprise Imaging a New Dimension

Tim Law, President

Novarad, a pioneer in healthcare IT and imaging solutions, was established in 1990 by Dr. Wendell Gibby, a radiologist with a vision for technology’s role in the continuous improvement of radiology systems. Home to a rich culture of innovation, Novarad keeps up with the proliferation of digital medical images, patient records and other clinically relevant objects, and the extension of PACS and archive systems across the healthcare enterprise. Apart from having all the traditional and advanced imaging tools for radiology, Novarad's Radiology Information System (RIS), takes care of the entire process from the beginning until the end, including imaging and producing a report of the imaging.

“Our healthcare imaging solutions are designed to address the individual needs of the healthcare facility,” says Tim Law, President, Novarad. With the realization of the need and opportunity for data consolidation, faster image loading, enhanced data security, seamless auto data recovery, and extensive data mining, the company started offering enterprise imaging and Vendor Neutral Archive (VNA) in which the client can store all the hospital data.

The greatest challenge in the field of the healthcare sector in the present day is the unavailability of the complete Electronic Medical Record (EMR). Working in accordance to their customer's demands, Novarad developed Ncompass Universal Archive that leverages Object Store technology. Benefits include: Greater capability for data mining, NSA-level data encryption, data consolidation on a single server, faster loading time for images, prevention of data loss, and extensible metadata.

We aspire to make a difference in the healthcare industry from the perspective of providing technology for driving down healthcare cost as opposed to offering expensive solutions

The company’s Ncompass Enterprise Imaging solution is completely scalable and can be used in large medical centers, imaging facilities, community hospitals or clinics. This enables enhanced storage, quick data access, data protection, and reliability. The solution easily integrates into most PACS and Vendor Neutral Archive architectures, enabling unlimited scalability and storage up to millions of gigabytes of high-definition patient images and other data. Giving the data a secure and centralized location, the cost-effective solution prevents unauthorized access. Rather than storing in the file system, the data gets compressed and has large encryption keys that are distributed per customer, keeping the data more secure.

When Down East Community Hospital (DECH) was looking for a way to increase radiology efficiency, NovaPACS helped them achieve a high level of success and made the radiology department an exemplar of competence for the rest of the hospital. Located in Machias, Maine, DECH's radiology department was able to cut down training times while teaching more effectively using NovaPACS.

Moreover, Novarad with its unique expertise in the medical as well as technology sectors has also developed cardiology tools; they are built keeping in mind the workflow of the cardiology department and how those professionals need to see the images. Additionally, the company has come up with virtual colonoscopy that gives a view that camera does not allow. To add on to their latest offerings, the company’s work with Microsoft’s HoloLens provides users with the capability to take patient medical images, such as x-rays or CT scans, and show them in 3D-augmented reality – superimposed on the patient’s body via the HoloLens. This solution can be used in surgery or teaching institutions.

“We aspire to make a difference in the healthcare industry from the perspective of providing technology for driving down healthcare cost as opposed to offering expensive solutions,” remarks Law. Though there is growth to come in the enterprise imaging space, new product and software development have become the life-blood of Novarad.